Sleeping bag

ABSTRACT

A sleeping bag is made of a fabric consisting of a thin and flexible material impermeable to water, at least one side of the fabric being metallically shiny. The bag can be closed by a drawband provided at its opening. A strong strip of webbing is attached centrally to an outer surface of the bag and extends in its longitudinal direction. Spaced transverse bands are attached to the strip and to the fabric. Their ends are provided with loops, so that two rows of loops are formed. The loops may be used for carrying the bag.

I United States Patent [1 1 [111 3,750,202 Merikallio 1 Aug. 7, 1973SLEEPING BAG 2,625,695 1/1953 Nicholson 5/343 [76] Inventor: Pauli AssarAntero Merikallio,

lsmkobemnkatu 4931 A 7, Prrmary Examiner-James T. McCall Helsinki 12Finand Assistant Examiner-Andrew M. Calvert Att0rney-Richards & Geier[22] Filed: Oct. 6, 1970 [2]] Appl. No.: 78,528 [57] ABSTRACT 0 ForeignApplication p i i data A sleeping bag is rnade of a fabric consisting ofa thin and flexible material impermeable to water, at least one NOV. 5,Fll'llal'ld side of the fabric be ng metallicany shiny The bag can beclosed by a draw-band provided at its opening. A [2%] SI. 5/323 2/8/90?)strong strip of webbing is attached centrally to an outer i 336 surfaceof the bag and extends in its longitudinal direc- I l 0 ea 2 99 tion.Spaced transverse bands are attached to the strip and to the fabric.Their ends are provided with loops, 56 R s Cited so that two rows ofloops are formed. The loops may be 1 UNITED r r ias PATENTS used forcarrying the 2,064,458 12/1936 Bulpit at al. 5 343 1 Claim, 1 DrawingFigure 2,788,530 4/l957 Ferguson 5/343 X 2,630,620 3/1953 Rand 5/347 XSLEEPING BAG DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to asleeping bag.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a sleeping bagwhich is very light, fits in a very small space and is very warm.

Another object is the provision of a sleeping bag which is capable of avariety of uses on picnics and trips, as a float when swimming and alsofor military uses'for the transport of wounded persons and dead bodies.

Other objects of the present invention will become apparent in thecourse of the following specification.

In the accomplishment of the objectives of the present invention it wasfound desirable to provide a sleeping bag made of a fabric impermeableto water or of similar, comparatively thin and flexible material, atleast one side of which has been made metallically shiny. The sleepingbag has been dimensioned to be so long that it can be drawn over theusers head, and it has been shaped to constitute a continuous bagarranged to be closable by means of a draw band provided at its mouth.Furthermore, the sleeping bag has been provided with a comparativelystrong length of webbing extending in its longitudinal direction andfixed to the sleeping bag. To this webbing and to the sleeping bag havebeen fixed a number of transverse bands, both outer ends of which havebeen shaped as loops by which persons may carry the sleeping bag withits contents and through which loops one may also push staff-likecarrying elements resembling the shafts of a cart.

A sleeping bag according to the present invention requires very littlespace. Its warmth is based on the fact that the metallically shiny, e.g.aluminum-colored surface efficiently prevents the heat generated by theuser of the sleeping bag from being transferred by radiation to thecolder surroundings. Of course, a contributory partial factor is thecircumstance that the bag is impermeable to wind. Compared to aconventional, stuffed sleeping bag, it is an obvious advantage that thesleeping bag according to the present invention has been made of amaterial which does not take up water, whereby it is exceedingly easy todry the bag when it has become wet; this is certainly not true forconventional sleeping bags, which tend to absorb water and at the sametime lose their heat insulating capacity. A sleeping bag according tothe present invention is also highly suitable for use as a floatingmeans when, one traverses bodies of water, in which connection it ispossible at the same time to transport in the bag clothing, arms andother pieces of equipment. Since thesleeping bag has carrying handles onits sides, it is also suitable for'transporting wounded persons or deadbodies. It may also be used e.g. at burials in field conditions as asubstitute coffin. Since this sleeping bag is water-tight, variouseffusions from wounded persons or bodies or equivalent flowingsubstances cannot escape from the sleeping bag.

The invention will appear more clearly from the following detaileddescription when taken in connection with the accompanying drawing thesole FIGURE of which is aplan viewof the rear side of the sleeping bagof the present invention.

enough to cover a human body completely.

The mouth of the sleeping bag has been provided with a hollow run 5 witha draw-band 6 running inside it by the use of which the sleeping bag canbe closed. For the draw-band 6 two sets of holes 7 have been made in therun 5, one set on the inside and the other on the outside of thesleeping bag. Due to this arrangement it is easy to close the sleepingbag either from the inside or from the outside.

On the underside (the back) of the sleeping bag there has been attachedby sewing, gluing or by some other means a strip 4 of comparativelystrong material longitudinally to the sleeping bag 1 and to this striphave been attached four transverse bands 8 made of similar material,which are furthermore attached to the sleeping bag itself. The outerends of these transverse bands 8 have been shaped into loops 3, whichmay be used as carrying handles for example when persons aretransported, and which also may serve as a handhold at the crossing ofwater bodies, when the sleeping bag serves as a floating aid. It is alsopossible to pass through these loops 3, shafts or the like, whereby thesleeping bag constitutes a carrying implement resembling a stretcher.

On one end of the longitudinal band there has furthermore been made aloop 2, which serves as a handle by which the bag may be dragged throughthe terrain. This mode of transportation is particularly appropriate inwinter conditions when the ground is snow-covered. In the drawing, theloop 2 has been attached to the end of the band adjacent to the mouth ofthe sleeping bag 1, but the foot end of the sleeping bag may equallywell be provided with a similar loop.

A sleeping bag according to the invention can be made of a variety ofmaterials. For instance, various plastic films may be used. However, itis advantageous from the viewpoint of durability to make the sleepingbag of thin artificial fiber silk fabric which has been treated withplastic resins to be water-tight and coated, for example, with a layerof aluminum. The water-right quality of such a sleeping bag may befurther enhanced by treating it with a silicone compound. It is one ofthe advantages of a sleeping bag made of the materials suggested by thepresent invention that it can be very easily sterilized. Likewise, itcan be easily washed in conventional washing machines and usingconventional washing agents; it also dries rapidly after washing. It istrue that the silicone treatment of the sleeping bag may be impaired byrepeated, powerful washing operations, but the silicone treatment may berepeated when required, for example just after such washings. Due to itsmaterial, the sleeping bag also protects its user very efficientlyagainst radiation, which may be a significent circumstance in certainwar-time conditions.

As already stated, the sleeping bag of the present invention is notintended solely for military uses, but can be used most effectively onliking tours, as a swimming aid, as protection against the weather whenfishing on the ice, or in the spectator stands of winter sports events.In military use under conditions of war considerable advantage inrationalization is gained from the fact that it is not necessary, asbefore, to convey into the fighting lines wooden coffins for thecasualties, which coffins require much space, instead of which the deadbodies may be transported to the places of burial in each soldier's ownsleeping bag, which belongs to his personal equipment.

It is understood that the invention is by no means narrowly confined tothe embodiment shown in the drawing. Various details in the design of asleeping bag according to the invention may be altered and modifiedwithout leaving the scope of the invention.

1 claim:

1. A sleeping bag adapted to enclose the body of a human being andhaving a front side, a back side, a closed bottom and a top opening,said bag consisting of a fabric which is impermeable to water and havingat least one side which is metallically shiny, a hollow run extendingaround the entire top opening and having two pairs of openings, one ofsaid pairs being located at the outer surface of the bag and the otherpair being located at the inner surface of the bag, a draw bandextending within said run and adapted to extend through said pairs ofopenings, a strip fixed to the back side of the bag and extending in itslongitudinal direction, a loop attached to said strip adjacent the topopening of the bag, a plurality of other strips extending transverselyto the longitudinal direction of the bag, said other strips beingparallel to and spaced from each other and being attached to thefirst-mentioned strip and to the back side of the bag, each of saidother strips having two opposed ends, and loops attached to all ends ofsaid other strips.

i i l i

1. A sleeping bag adapted to enclose the body of a human being andhaving a front side, a back side, a closed bottom and a top opening,said bag consisting of a fabric which is impermeable to water and havingat least one side which is metallically shiny, a hollow run extendingaround the entire top opening and having two pairs of openings, one ofsaid pairs being located at the outer surface of the bag and the otherpair being located at the inner surface of the bag, a draw bandextending within said run and adapted to extend through said pairs ofopenings, a strip fixed to the back side of the bag and extending in itslongitudinal direction, a loop attached to said strip adjacent the topopening of the bag, a plurality of other strips extending transverselyto the longitudinal direction of the bag, said other strips beingparallel to and spaced from each other and being attached to thefirst-mentioned strip and to the back side of the bag, each of saidother strips having two opposed ends, and loops attached to all ends ofsaid other strips.